Cocaine, crime, family history of deviance—are psychosocial correlates related to these phenomena in male cocaine abusers?

This paper examines relationships among deviant behaviors such as cocaine abuse, crime, and family history of deviance; demographics; and psychological characteristics such as aggression, sensation seeking, confidence to resist taking cocaine and risk taking tendency to use cocaine in different situations; psychiatric symptoms (e.g., depression, anxiety, obsessive‐compulsiveness, somatization, attention deficit); and social characteristics such as social adjustment. The sample consisted of men, mean age 35 years, who were veterans of the armed services. Canonical correlation analysis showed three significant canonical variates: The first indicated that verbal aggression, general sensation seeking, and a problem index for situations involving urges to use cocaine were positively related to number of times arrested and negatively related to age. The second revealed that experience seeking and problem indices for situations involving urges to use cocaine and for those involving pleasant times, were positively related to last cocaine use consumption level, total lifetime grams of cocaine used, and alcohol problems of the immediate family. The third showed that verbal aggression and a problem index for risk situations for use involving pleasant times were positively related, and experience seeking was negatively related, to number of times arrested, number of times incarcerated in the previous 30 days, age, and last cocaine use level. The implications of the associations found among these variables are discussed as they pertain to prevention, treatment, and future research.

Key words:

• cocaine
• crime
• deviance
• canonical correlation

Notes

UCLA Drug Abuse Research Center, 1640 S. Sepulveda Blvd. Suite 200, Los Angeles, California 90025.

West Los Angeles Veteran Affairs Medical Center, Los Angeles, California.

Address for correspondence and reprints.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nagalakshmi D. Kasarabada

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Elena Stark

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